JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 12, 2022) – Donning a hard hat and a bright yellow safety vest, Dr. Arpita Nandi joined her students on an up-close, behind-the-scenes tour of an improvement project happening at Boone Dam on the South Fork Holston River in northeast Tennessee. Throughout the year, she arranges similar tours ranging from exploratory drill locations to environmental remediation sites.
Only a few weeks earlier, the chair of the Geosciences Department at East Tennessee
State University learned she had received a critical $325,000 Tennessee Department
of Transportation grant to examine landslide and debris flow for high priority areas
in the Volunteer State. From economic disruption to negative environmental effects,
hundreds of landslides in Middle and East Tennessee pose a risk to the public.
It’s part of the balance between research and teaching that Nandi has perfected since
she arrived at ETSU in 2007.
“We take a great deal of pride in doing applied work here at ETSU,” she said. “That
means our professors are both top-notch scholars and excellent instructors who are
eager to see students succeed.”
The recent TDOT grant combines both elements.
Nandi – with the help of two grant-funded graduate students, summer research-funded
undergraduate students and co-investigators Drs. Eileen Ernenwein and Andrew Joyner
– will monitor landslide activities along major highways in Middle and East Tennessee
following extreme weather events.
“Our team is thrilled to work on this state agency project,” she said. “Not only is
this a premiere grant to receive, but the grant aims to enhance public safety by monitoring
ground-based slope movement and issue an early warning for slope failures.”
As a member of the American Association of Civil Engineers, Nandi also prepared report
cards for Tennessee dams in 2017 and 2022, an important task that helps Tennesseans
understand the current condition of dam infrastructure. She engaged her students in
the multi-criteria evaluation that involved data-informed learning. Students became
aware of the importance of sound infrastructure for public health and safety, she
said.
“Whether you are interested in geography, geology, paleontology, geospatial science
or environmental geosciences more generally, we offer students the chance to learn
academically and get experience through fieldwork, industry-standard software skills
and research through the world-class center at the Gray Fossil Site and Museum,” Nandi
said. “Our recent activities and student success stories are a testament to that.”
She added: “We believe in the enrollment to employment model. Our goal is to extend
the knowledge and tools for our students, put them at the front of a rewarding professional
career and entrance to the graduate school of their choice. This is high time to get
your Geoscience degree, as the market analysis forecasts for strong geoscience job growth by 2029.”
To learn more about geosciences at ETSU, visit etsu.edu/cas/geosciences/default.php.